Has anyone every run coilovers at the rear of an IRS bug without torsion bars?
 

I'm just interested, really. Seems to me it doesn't make much sense running both, and the torsion bars in my head don't seem to give any additional strength to the suspension, so any thoughts?
Cheers


Andy

I did this in my speedster rep. The torsion bar does help locate the spring plate, I used cut down 944 torsion covers and bushings which are much bigger and do the job.

Rich

so, is the general consensus that the rear suspension arm shock mounts are strong enough to support the entire weight of the car with a coilover, and the torsion bar out?

-Ryan

hope so subynotch, or as an alternative do what 1303steve has done, using shorter bars and custom adjusters... im guessing its because the center is being cut out tho for that solution.

I was under the impression that an IRS setup with coilovers but no torsion bars required a unibal setup to work properly,is this correct?

Even more importantly, instead of forking over a couple thousand Euros for a setup from Remmelle, how about the specs/part numbers from the various shocks that are being used out there to accomplish this marvelous feat?

Oh, and I also want the front balljoint shock part numbers as well;)

Just as a bit of an update:

The following companies do specific conversions for this:

http://www.remmele-motorsport.com/en...cooled_en.html (this may be made by a company called Bug At 5 Speed)
http://www.laperformance.co.uk/suspension.htm
http://www.eagleperformance.com/CoilOverKits.html

and Jaycee in the states also do a replacement outer torsion bar cover with a bronze bush which might be up to the task.

However IMO the mixture of low price and simplicity of design from Eagle Performance won it for me, and they were very helpful, so I shipped a pair over to the UK a couple of weeks ago. I've now had them zinc plated and they're ready to fit, once my coilovers arrive.

Regarding choice of coilovers I'm going to be running a pair on the back that are 15" extended length and 10" compressed and initially I'll be using 200lbs springs. These may be a bit on the soft side, but if they are I'm hoping I'll be able to adjust that out using the adjustable coilovers. For more details of suitable length shocks the SSP(http://www.streetstylepower.co.uk/publicRouter.cfm) catalogue is very good.

On the front (1303 remember) I'm currently running a pair of late standard struts modified for adjustable height spring cups and 2.25" springs, and 100lbs springs which with no adjustment are giving me the drop I want, and an okay ride. I'm running Gaz damping adjustable inserts, which had their max length reduced by 5cm at Gaz. These came from Rally Design (http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/catalog/default.php).

Hope this is of interest.

Andy

Ok so what are the advantages of going to coil overs on the rear? Is this more for racing? Porsche kept using a torsion / shock combo on the 944s so it couldnt be all that bad. One would think that a combo of soft torsion bars and a coil over set up may yeild good results.

Man am I a thread killer or what? LOL

Coil overs are faster to make changes to than torsion bar set-ups. So, when racing... this is the easiest and fastest to deal with track side Pirate ;) . 944's are the low budget Porsche IMO, since they used exsiting parts from the Audi and VW line (not to mention they are water cooled). Although there is nothing wrong with that for the street, or econo race classes. Once again this is just my opinion.

Well your opinion makes sense. I am building a street/ show car so either straight torsion bars or a torsion bar/ coil over combo may work for my ride requirements. If my thinking is right if I use my original torsion bars then get a really soft coilover on the back I should get about what I want for springyness. Plus by adjusting the coil overs I could also soften or stiffen the ride. The ride heigth adjustment would still need to be done at the torsion bar though. Hmnmmmmm.

The other thing to note is that unless you do replace the torsion bars you're looking at re-using 30 year old bars. Even the Porsches are now 15 odd years old at least. I don't think Porsche were really that bothered about their cars when they reach that age.
So that's a lot of wear they've got on them, and for the price of a proper coilover conversion suddenly you're into more predictable territory and to me it all made sense.
I'm not building a racer but I want my car to handle right. My eventual plan is to get it on a trackday and spend the time setting it up, which will be a lot easier with coilovers.

Yeah But I wouldnt do a straigt coil over conversion without reienfocing the shock mount back to the frame. More on that later though when I have a diagram finished.